Karl Schroeder
@karlschroeder.bsky.social
Science fiction writer, speculative designer, with a Masters in Strategic Foresight, two cats and a dog, and a fantastic family.
Be one of the first 100 civilians to remotely drive a rover on the moon in 2028. Or, give the opportunity to a friend or loved one.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Put Your Own Boots On the Moon
Using your smartphone, you can drive a rover on the moon in 2028.
open.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Be one of the first 100 civilians to remotely drive a rover on the moon in 2028. Or, give the opportunity to a friend or loved one.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
@karlschroeder.bsky.social pushes this concept in incredible directions in his book Stealing Worlds www.goodreads.com/book/show/41...
Stealing Worlds
From Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep, comes the near…
www.goodreads.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:52 AM
@karlschroeder.bsky.social pushes this concept in incredible directions in his book Stealing Worlds www.goodreads.com/book/show/41...
We keep hearing about how AI is being used in business, or personally. But what about for designing and implementing public policy? Here's an example.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
November 13, 2025 at 4:30 PM
We keep hearing about how AI is being used in business, or personally. But what about for designing and implementing public policy? Here's an example.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
The book "Late Soviet Britain" by Abby Innes is a devastating critique of neoliberal economics. It also has implications about how AI is going to impact how we work and live.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
October 30, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The book "Late Soviet Britain" by Abby Innes is a devastating critique of neoliberal economics. It also has implications about how AI is going to impact how we work and live.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
This week's #FreeFictionFriday pick, "The Baker of Mars" by @karlschroeder.bsky.social follows Myrna, a chef serving settlers colonizing Mars. Relocation seems promising, until a visit with a friend reveals the expansion is quickly draining the planet's aquifers.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ipli...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ipli...
October 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
This week's #FreeFictionFriday pick, "The Baker of Mars" by @karlschroeder.bsky.social follows Myrna, a chef serving settlers colonizing Mars. Relocation seems promising, until a visit with a friend reveals the expansion is quickly draining the planet's aquifers.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ipli...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ipli...
Now that AI is being driven by the same user-engagement algorithms that enshittified social media, we need an alternative business model. Why not take a lesson from the past, with a new kind of PDA?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Return of the PDA
The AI business model is based on user engagement, like social media. Not doomscrolling, but something just as bad: automated rumination. We need a different model.
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Now that AI is being driven by the same user-engagement algorithms that enshittified social media, we need an alternative business model. Why not take a lesson from the past, with a new kind of PDA?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Last week's post inspired some lively debate. I'm following up with an even more provocative idea--the question of whether quantum mechanics can tell us something about how to improve our political institutions.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Quantum Politics
Can we ground our divisive political discussions in a reality that neither Left nor Right can argue away?
open.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Last week's post inspired some lively debate. I'm following up with an even more provocative idea--the question of whether quantum mechanics can tell us something about how to improve our political institutions.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
While good people debate, bad people act. We're all concerned with finding the ground for a new social contract; but we're out of time to do that. Why not abandon that effort, and start building a pluralistic society based on the complete lack of common ground...?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Ride Madly Off In All Directions
What's after Postmodernism? Is it Metamodernism? Or, instead of seeking new ways to ground authenticity and authority, can we build a society that doesn't need them?
open.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 4:01 PM
While good people debate, bad people act. We're all concerned with finding the ground for a new social contract; but we're out of time to do that. Why not abandon that effort, and start building a pluralistic society based on the complete lack of common ground...?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
Because the world is a bad place right now and I'm in a bad headspace, here are 5 copies of @karlschroeder.bsky.social 's _Stealing Worlds_.
#KindleBookGiveAway
#KindleBookGiveAway
September 10, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Because the world is a bad place right now and I'm in a bad headspace, here are 5 copies of @karlschroeder.bsky.social 's _Stealing Worlds_.
#KindleBookGiveAway
#KindleBookGiveAway
I took the summer off to write. Amazingly, I accomplished everything I planned for, including preparing a new short story collection for publication, and finishing the novel I've been promising. I'm back online now and resuming my newsletter, Unapocalyptic.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Pivot Season
The dangers of writing very-near-future science fiction; or, What I Did on My Summer Vacation
open.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I took the summer off to write. Amazingly, I accomplished everything I planned for, including preparing a new short story collection for publication, and finishing the novel I've been promising. I'm back online now and resuming my newsletter, Unapocalyptic.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
Let’s talk about an Edmonton science fiction institution -- On Spec, Canada’s most prominent English-language science fiction magazine.
onspec.ca/about-on-spec
onspec.ca/about-on-spec
About On Spec / Contact Us
In 1989, a small group of Edmonton writers formed The Copper Pig Writers Society in order to fill a niche in Canada–a paying market for English SF. SF with a uniquely Canadian Perspective. Of…
onspec.ca
July 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Let’s talk about an Edmonton science fiction institution -- On Spec, Canada’s most prominent English-language science fiction magazine.
onspec.ca/about-on-spec
onspec.ca/about-on-spec
I've paused my Substack newsletter for the summer so I can focus on writing fiction. Got a novel to finish.
June 27, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I've paused my Substack newsletter for the summer so I can focus on writing fiction. Got a novel to finish.
I've written an introduction to the 2x2 scenario-planning method, using the example of the future of the Hinterland.
June 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I've written an introduction to the 2x2 scenario-planning method, using the example of the future of the Hinterland.
Can Canada become an Arctic superpower? How could we achieve it? And--most importantly--is it worth trying?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Nation-Building in the North
Canada is reconfiguring itself as a strategic global power. How does that work?
open.substack.com
May 29, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Can Canada become an Arctic superpower? How could we achieve it? And--most importantly--is it worth trying?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
kschroeder.substack.com/p/eleven-tip...
I wrote my first novel "A New Faith" < tinjar.ghost.io > before I discovered @karlschroeder.bsky.social
Pleasantly surprised to realize that I had inadvertently used several of his tips.
#booksky #climatechange #adaptation #solarpunk #nearfuturefiction
I wrote my first novel "A New Faith" < tinjar.ghost.io > before I discovered @karlschroeder.bsky.social
Pleasantly surprised to realize that I had inadvertently used several of his tips.
#booksky #climatechange #adaptation #solarpunk #nearfuturefiction
Eleven Tips for Using SciFi in Futures Work
What nobody tells you about narrative in foresight projects: how to write it
kschroeder.substack.com
May 9, 2025 at 8:35 PM
kschroeder.substack.com/p/eleven-tip...
I wrote my first novel "A New Faith" < tinjar.ghost.io > before I discovered @karlschroeder.bsky.social
Pleasantly surprised to realize that I had inadvertently used several of his tips.
#booksky #climatechange #adaptation #solarpunk #nearfuturefiction
I wrote my first novel "A New Faith" < tinjar.ghost.io > before I discovered @karlschroeder.bsky.social
Pleasantly surprised to realize that I had inadvertently used several of his tips.
#booksky #climatechange #adaptation #solarpunk #nearfuturefiction
Why does stuff happen? What ultimately causes the kind of seismic shift we’re seeing in the world today? Is it just one man? Or are impersonal historical forces at work? In the post, I presented six theories people use and use them in a worldbuilding exercise.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
May 9, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Why does stuff happen? What ultimately causes the kind of seismic shift we’re seeing in the world today? Is it just one man? Or are impersonal historical forces at work? In the post, I presented six theories people use and use them in a worldbuilding exercise.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Progressives need to understand that technology is legislation if they're going to counter the MAGA-ization of everything.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
May 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Progressives need to understand that technology is legislation if they're going to counter the MAGA-ization of everything.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
A massive study of 50,000 households over 1,000 archaeological sites provides ample evidence that inequality is not a "natural" outgrowth of sophistication. Instead, it is a political choice. Which means, kids, that we don't have to choose it.
archaeologymag.com/2025/04/stud...
archaeologymag.com/2025/04/stud...
New study reveals wealth inequality was never inevitable
A recent study published in the journal PNAS is overturning traditional wisdom regarding the origins and inevitability of wealth inequality
archaeologymag.com
April 27, 2025 at 1:01 AM
A massive study of 50,000 households over 1,000 archaeological sites provides ample evidence that inequality is not a "natural" outgrowth of sophistication. Instead, it is a political choice. Which means, kids, that we don't have to choose it.
archaeologymag.com/2025/04/stud...
archaeologymag.com/2025/04/stud...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
Reading increases empathy. Canadian cognitive psychologist Keith Oatley called fiction 'the mind's flight simulator'.
April 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reading increases empathy. Canadian cognitive psychologist Keith Oatley called fiction 'the mind's flight simulator'.
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
Want to beat authoritarianism? Look to Latin America | Greg Grandin
Want to beat authoritarianism? Look to Latin America | Greg Grandin
The region has grappled with dictatorships, coups and inequality. But its democratic spirit remains vital – and offers a lesson for the US
www.theguardian.com
April 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Want to beat authoritarianism? Look to Latin America | Greg Grandin
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
📣 We're launching something BIG on May 5.
The Locus Magazine 2025 IndieGoGo will bring the best of SFF to YOU—signed, illustrated, and personalized.
Don't miss the drop: locusmag.com/newslet...
#SFFCommunity #LocusMagazine
The Locus Magazine 2025 IndieGoGo will bring the best of SFF to YOU—signed, illustrated, and personalized.
Don't miss the drop: locusmag.com/newslet...
#SFFCommunity #LocusMagazine
April 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
📣 We're launching something BIG on May 5.
The Locus Magazine 2025 IndieGoGo will bring the best of SFF to YOU—signed, illustrated, and personalized.
Don't miss the drop: locusmag.com/newslet...
#SFFCommunity #LocusMagazine
The Locus Magazine 2025 IndieGoGo will bring the best of SFF to YOU—signed, illustrated, and personalized.
Don't miss the drop: locusmag.com/newslet...
#SFFCommunity #LocusMagazine